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Ice Skating
Dec. 18th, 2005 04:04 pmYesterday I went ice skating. I have not been ice skating since I was about 9 when my Mum used to take me to lessons on Fridays so the potential for disaster was definitely present!
We went to the Christmas outdoor skating rink in Windsor in the shadows of the castle, it's not huge, but it is large enough to get up a bit of speed and generally have some fun. Booking is necessary and each session lasts about an hour, which for me is just about enough.
So my new bloke and I rocked up fifteen minutes before our session was due to start, booking number in hand to pick up our tickets. Once the tickets had been claimed we were faced with the first challenge: finding a pair of skate that were/had a)in the right size b)one for each foot c)somewhat similar in style.
I succeeded well in the first two and not too bad in the third of the above and judging by the conversations going on around me, I considered myself pretty lucky. So once we were both suitably booted we joined the queue to take to the ice. One by one people tentatively stepped onto the rink, grasping the sides as if for their lives, by the time we stepped up to make our entry some of the people were beginning to get the hang of things and some of the braver souls had ventured out onto the centre of the rink.
I felt a little unsteady for the first couple of metres before deciding to take a deep breath and break out onto the open ice, leaving my partner in the haven of the safety bar I set off on what would be a shaky tour of the rink.
I returned in one piece and without having introduced my behind directly to the ice, to find that my brave bloke had let go of the edge and was attempting to make his rounds sans support seeing my building confidence he thought that it might be a good idea if he were to take my hand to see if he could increase his speed. Well that nearly left the both of us on our backsides and why it didn't I don't know.
Considering the number of people on the ice and the fact that it was as plain as day that the majority had little or no experience of skating, on the whole the entire operation seemed to be an exemplary display of synergy. Many times I saw people (including myself) who seemed to be at high speed, out of control and about to crash into numerous people just slip into a gap in the crowd and miraculously continue with their rotation.
I soon figured out that I had a major advantage over many people: I could stop with out having to crash into a barrier! There were some fairly spectacular crashes and many falls, my beau had a front seat to one of these involving a young girl and what we can only assume was her grandmother, the ice marshall came gliding over to help the fallen back into a vertical stance. When the ice marshall asked if they were ok the grandmother, in her embarrassment stuttered 'It's really icy'. My man, who was standing not two feet from the scene of the crash received a look of incredulity from the ice marshall to which he could only respond by a grimace which was him trying to hold back his laughter!
At the end of the hour both of us had quite a number of close calls (which caused us both much mirth) neither of us actually fell - which we congratulated ourselves heartily on with a Chinese takeaway and a night in front of the TV with Ricky Gervais's Animals.
We went to the Christmas outdoor skating rink in Windsor in the shadows of the castle, it's not huge, but it is large enough to get up a bit of speed and generally have some fun. Booking is necessary and each session lasts about an hour, which for me is just about enough.
So my new bloke and I rocked up fifteen minutes before our session was due to start, booking number in hand to pick up our tickets. Once the tickets had been claimed we were faced with the first challenge: finding a pair of skate that were/had a)in the right size b)one for each foot c)somewhat similar in style.
I succeeded well in the first two and not too bad in the third of the above and judging by the conversations going on around me, I considered myself pretty lucky. So once we were both suitably booted we joined the queue to take to the ice. One by one people tentatively stepped onto the rink, grasping the sides as if for their lives, by the time we stepped up to make our entry some of the people were beginning to get the hang of things and some of the braver souls had ventured out onto the centre of the rink.
I felt a little unsteady for the first couple of metres before deciding to take a deep breath and break out onto the open ice, leaving my partner in the haven of the safety bar I set off on what would be a shaky tour of the rink.
I returned in one piece and without having introduced my behind directly to the ice, to find that my brave bloke had let go of the edge and was attempting to make his rounds sans support seeing my building confidence he thought that it might be a good idea if he were to take my hand to see if he could increase his speed. Well that nearly left the both of us on our backsides and why it didn't I don't know.
Considering the number of people on the ice and the fact that it was as plain as day that the majority had little or no experience of skating, on the whole the entire operation seemed to be an exemplary display of synergy. Many times I saw people (including myself) who seemed to be at high speed, out of control and about to crash into numerous people just slip into a gap in the crowd and miraculously continue with their rotation.
I soon figured out that I had a major advantage over many people: I could stop with out having to crash into a barrier! There were some fairly spectacular crashes and many falls, my beau had a front seat to one of these involving a young girl and what we can only assume was her grandmother, the ice marshall came gliding over to help the fallen back into a vertical stance. When the ice marshall asked if they were ok the grandmother, in her embarrassment stuttered 'It's really icy'. My man, who was standing not two feet from the scene of the crash received a look of incredulity from the ice marshall to which he could only respond by a grimace which was him trying to hold back his laughter!
At the end of the hour both of us had quite a number of close calls (which caused us both much mirth) neither of us actually fell - which we congratulated ourselves heartily on with a Chinese takeaway and a night in front of the TV with Ricky Gervais's Animals.
